The Iris's Medium
by AkaiKaze13
Summary: In present-day Neo Verona, 14-year-old Renata has always dismissed the tales of her city's saviors as fantasy drawl. But when her people face peril again, the lovers of legend will awaken - and they'll need her help.  More info inside!
1. Prologue

**Well, this is, like, my first fanfic EVER. So please don't hate me. At times, it may hardly seem like a fanfic at all, but this is a story idea I've had for a while, and it centers around **_**Romeo X Juliet,**_** so it technically qualifies, ne?**

**This story takes place in 2010, and yes, I totally made some of the characters (Italian) otakus, so there may be some outer-anime references. That's just a little Easter egg from myself I threw in, hardy har har. But, yes, Neo Verona still has that Italian atmosphere, even if it isn't technically Italy. In this story, I've kind of put it off the coast of Sicily, in the Ionian Sea (between Italy and Greece, but more towards Italy). The Goddess from the anime may appear, but for now, Christianity does exist there. It was bound to spread there, anyhow.**

**Also, forgive me if I got any Italian trivia wrong. I basically picked a modern-day Italy setting, since the series is in sort of an ancient Italy, but...a floating continent. (Make sense?) I'm of Italian descent, but I've never actually left America (apparently, I went to Canada when I was six months old, but that doesn't count). European time, the metric system; there were several things I don't use (often, at least) that I put in. You can correct me, but don't be too harsh! (Please?) And now you may enjoy the story. Yay.**

I was standing on top of a corpse.

Its head had exploded, and yet there was no carnage, no gore. It was solid beneath my feet, and rough, not like skin.

It wasn't skin. It was bark. Tree bark, thrumming with power beyond which my human mind could comprehend, fading fast, retreating into some other dimension and leaving this one helpless. I raised my head, and it was, indeed, the top of a broken tree that I stood upon: almost fifty meters across, splintering away at the edges. The air was alive with a golden glow.

In the center of this great tree's carcass, there knelt a beautiful woman. Her long red hair fluttered around her in a firm breeze, and from her shoulderblades sprouted wings; blinding wings, lit up like spotlights, stretching high above for meters and meters. They beat up and down, lifting the ground that the tree grew from.

And, in her arms, there was a man. His skin was white, and he wore dark armor, battle-scarred. I could just see his face-a long, glistening streak of blood ran from his hairline to his jaw. Looking along his back armor further, I saw the reason behind his pale skin: a massive gash, surrounded by dried blood, ran deep down through its tough shell (and, I suspected, through his very body). He was dead, but he had died in some sort of struggle. And he had fought harder than I could fathom just then.

The woman, looking wearier by the moment, turned her gentle, chestnut eyes to me. There was deep sorrow within them, but it was blocked by a great hope, for something I couldn't understand.

Despite her distance from me, I could hear her voice as if it were right beside my ear, murmuring to me:

"Should the need arise, call, and we will come."

With that, her eyes slid closed, her head slumped into the shoulder of the man in her arms, and she died.

"Renata? Renata de Gloriosa, are you listening to me?"

I sat for a few moments, waiting for my brain to register the voice of the person standing above me. When it did, I shot up in my chair so quickly, I went briefly airborne.

Mrs. Raffaella de Luca leaned over my desk, peering sternly at me over the top of her wire-rimmed spectacles, her wide eyes looking like black holes as they sucked in my self esteem. She has the ability to do that to her students on a regular basis, whenever they happen to set a toe out of line.

I cringed away, gulping. "Oh, ah...hello, Mrs. Luca..."

"Hello, Miss Gloriosa. I do hope you enjoyed your nap?" She raised herself to full height from her former position, hands on her hips. Now she looked down on me, and I truly felt like the sewer rat she was trying to convey to me that I was.

Still disoriented from sleep, I blinked twice. "I, uh..."

"Detention has ended." She gave a wicked smile, and, without warning, slammed her trademark meterstick down on my desk with a head-rattling _crack!_

I jumped about fifty feet, and my brains nearly splattered along the walls of my skull. "Y-yes ma'am! I m-mean, I'm sssorry!"

"Quit your babbling and head on home." She spun on her stiletto heel dismissively and walked back up the aisle, toward her desk.

Like any teenager who wasn't brain-dead would, I up and scattered.


	2. Chapter 2

The streets of Neo Verona were buzzing as usual; the adults ambled about, stopping by the corner grocer's to chat, strolling with their dogs, randomly coming across _really_ old friends that they hadn't seen since high school, etc. Both shiny executive and beat-up hobo cars sped through the streets as rush hour ensued; it was nearing seventeen-thirty now, I supposed.

Reaching into my pocket, I dug around through the gum wrappers until I touched plastic. I yanked out my cell phone and flipped it open; indeed, it was 17:34. But what caught my eye was the flashing message on the screen: "You have 1 unread message."

I opened it, and was immediately surprised by lots of capital letters.

"OMG REN CAN U HEAR UR FONE RNGING AT ALL? Y WONT U ANSR ME? IS DTNTION OVR?"

I heaved a sigh. _Zita, I thought you would've figured by now that detention is a good place to sleep!_

"REN!"

I felt the air leave me as some large projectile slammed into me from behind, knocking me nearly to my knees. It was giggling and panting as I tried to regain my breath.

"My gosh, Ren! Where the heck were you? Did Luca make you swim out to Sicily or something?" Zita giggled again and wrapped her arms tighter around my neck.

I rose and struggled to shove her off. "Zee, school is my sleeping place. Remember?"

Her arms fell back, and, when I turned to her, her head was cocked in confusion. "School? I don't remember it. Oh, right-I _do_ sleep there!" She grinned widely, looking proud of herself.

I shook my head and smiled, turning to walk toward home. "You amaze me sometimes, Zee. Know that?"

Following our normal routine, I could sense Zita curtsying a few feet behind me. "Thank you, thank you! Hold your applause!"

She scurried forward and caught up to me then, hurrying a few steps ahead so she could walk backwards and face me as we walked. "Did you have the dream again?"

I blinked in surprise. "I didn't think you'd remember that."

"Well, it's _obviously _about Romeo and Juliet," she stated matter-of-factly, putting her hands on her hips. "Haven't you guessed it? The Flower Festival is coming up, so, naturally, it's the talk of the town. No wonder you'd dream about it." She clasped her hands and raised her face to the sky, beginning her favorite part of the infamous saga: "'She ran onward, tearing herself from the one she knew she loved above all-'"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Shut up!" I sighed, rubbing my temples. "I've heard enough of that stupid story. They've been dead for five hundred years, and we all know star-crossed love is fantasy, anyhow."

Zee looked at me in shock, as if I'd just told her that I thought the chocolatey-chocolate death-by-chocolate gelato at Gino's was "okay." "Ren! I'm disappointed in you. They saved Neo Verona! If it weren't for them, you wouldn't be alive."

"So I've heard from every one of the old folks around this stupid city." I shuddered, as if to shake off a chill. "We're too wrapped up in the past here. I've always hated it. You know it!"

Now it was Zee's turn to sigh. She recited, in monotone, my Plan: "And you're going to do it by going to a talent agent in town when you graduate, become a famous singer, travel the world. Paris, London, New York, and you'll take me with you if you go to Tokyo." She brightened, looking at me slyly. "Correct? And you'll buy me all the Pocky I want, with your fabulous wealth?"

I chuckled. "Along with all the manga you can read, Zee."

She squealed and jumped into a forward-facing position, falling back to meet me. "Speaking of fabulous wealth, I just got extra allowance for getting a B plus on the math test. Wanna go to Gino's tomorrow?"

"Huh. I was just thinking about that place." I grinned. "And that certain gelato you love so much."

She squealed again; it sounds like an excited guinea pig mixed with a rubber duck, to give you an idea. "Yay!"

I laughed. "Well, anyway, Al's gonna be home soon-I've gotta get back before that happens. I forgot to lock my bedroom; he might raid the soda stashes and get the bright idea to go slit my plushies' throats."

"Oooh." Zee bit her thumb sympathetically, frowning. "So, your parents are still visiting your grandmother? In Mantua?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "No rules! But Al takes it too far sometimes." I hurried on, turning back to wave goodbye. "See you tomorrow!"

Zee held up two fingers; our version of a thumbs-up, which we'd gained from anime and manga. "Byiiiiie, buddyyyyy!"

I permitted myself a chortle and took off for home.


End file.
